Heart Tracks - Defining Hope

 "Against all hope, Abraham in hope, believed......" Romans 4:18......Abraham had faith in "So to say, God plus Abraham. Now at length he knew that the 'Abraham' contribution was at an end. Only God was left to believe in." Watchman Nee....."Can we tell the story not of hope, but of being held by Him in our hopelessness?" Laura Storey

I think for a very large part of my walk with Him, have misunderstood what it meant to hope in Him. At root, I think my hope was always grounded as much in what I wished the outcome to be as it was actually being rooted in Him alone. I set my eyes on what I was hoping for, always believing it was what He had promised. My sight was set on the end that I desired, not on Him. I wanted Him present, but present as my co-worker and supply. The One who would provide me the means to get to and achieve the result I wanted. I think by and large, most of us do this. I don't believe that this is real biblical hope, but we've convinced ourselves that it is.

The quotations from Nee and Storey would seem to contradict each other, but they don't. Abraham was given a promise by the Father that he and his wife Sarah would have a son. Abraham believed Him, but he also sought to assist the Lord in bringing it all about. This was the "faith plus Abraham" that Nee speaks of. It's where a lot of us are living. Yet all of his efforts to "help" God failed, just as ours will. It was when he was brought to the place of no hope, where both he and Sarah were beyond the ability to have a son, that they did. We don't particularly like to come to such a place in our walk with Him, but we do like the outcome. Abraham and Sarah desired a son, and they received on in Isaac. But what happens when we don't receive "Isaac"? What happens when that which we hope for doesn't come? What takes place when , like Storey says, our only hope is to be held by Him in the midst of our hopelessness? Abraham believed God and received the promise of Isaac. Storey believed God even when she received nothing. Both lived in hope. Can we?

God does keep His promises. All of them. The time and place of fulfillment is with Him, and we say we know this, but really, we expect Him to come through for us with a minimum of delay. Very often, He doesn't. We can give Him glory for all the times He has delivered us our Isaac. But what happens in those times when He doesn't? When all visible hope has disappeared. When our deepest desires and needs remain unmet and still present. Can we, against all hope, hope? Can we continue to hope and trust in the God who doesn't seem to be at all interested in helping us or in keeping His word? This is true hope in Him. When there is no visible reason that we should. This is hoping against hope. In the absence of any evidence, any result that says He is present and moving on our behalf, we believe He is. We don't focus and hope on the end desire, but upon Him. The One who says He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.....and our hope. In our hopelessness, He holds us.

I am thankful beyond words for all the times He has given me my Issac. But I think I have even more gratitude for how, by His grace, He has enabled me to hope on in Him even when Isaac did not come. John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, all the disciples. They surely had a hope that the prison cells, crosses, and executioner's sword that awaited them would not be their end. But they had an even greater hope, an incorruptible one, in He in Whom Colossians tells us, "all things hold together." May we live in this hope. Not in the effect we desire, but a desire for the One who is the fulfillment of all hope. May we live in the One who is perfect Hope.

Blessings,
Pastor O